Mixing down

Is is possible to get a good mix down with a set of good headphones? The reason Im asking because when I try to get a good mix down by using my monitors the bass drum and the bassline always come out to loud. I don't have the money right now to get me a sub woofer, so I was wondering if I could use some good headphones that will help me on getting the right level with my bass drums and basslines.....Oh by the way Im using the yamaha aw 4416




Thanks..... K.G.

It's not recommended, but everyone's situation is different, so sure, give it a go with headphones and see where it gets you, use the best headphones you can, Sony MDR's or something better. I like to try different headphones when doing mastering cheapies then good ones to hear the difference in translation.

In you case you should try to have less bass in your mix if there is too much coming out. Remember what you are hearing on the monitors is not how it will play on your home stereo system. Try to just experiment around with knobs until you get a good result. Burn stuff on cds and play it on different things, car stereo , house , boombox etc.

Aight J.C. That sounds like a plan

peace

filter off the bottom end of you mix at around 30-35k.

What do you mean by filter of the bottom end ddot?........ Im new in the game can you break it down for me please.......

He means cut out everything below 30-35hz with a high pass filter of some kind. Everything below that range tends to be felt more than heard anyway and it would get rid of what some folks consider to be unnecessary low end, it would also relieve some of the strain on your monitors trying to reproduce these frequencies which are out of it's range.

I would suggest spending a good amount of time getting to know your monitors and how they sound by listening to music that you're VERY familiar with and seeing how it sounds on your monitors, you can then just try to emulate that sound in your mix. I think your best bet however would be to invest in a sub or some bigger monitors.

What cooocooo1 said. Sorry I meant to say 30-35hz not 30-35k. Big difference. You need to find out and try to uderstand as much as you can about frequencies and how they affect your sound. Be patient. Its not an overnight process. There's lots of good books on mixing, and lots of info on the web.

Word........I co sign the advise 100%

Good Luck

Thanks guys!...... I guess I thought it would be an overnight process but I guess not........But on the other hand I will seriously consider on getting a sub. Cooocooo1 that was a really good idea, I never thought about listening to other music through my monitors and trying to emulate it..... man you a genuis!..

What about the boomen system? I mix for these people. I have been away and still stealing time here and there. Cutting of everything thing below 30-35Hz will stop the extra strain your speakers are exerting but those frequencies are felt not heard. You will also get rid of that lowend harmonics that if properly mixed can pound in a beautifully tuned CLUB system or Tight competintion car system. I propose if you are going to do anything with these frequencies understand what instruments really are effected. Don't just roll off the whole mix. Vocals yes, hi hats yes, guitars yes(well dependes) Snares yes, certain synths. The kick and Bass line need to be tamed but try this first, boost a little arounf 400Hz on bass and cut at same on kick. A little gose along way. Mess with your Q control on each. Then group them and compress them together. Now if you can splitt the grouped signal have one the way I mentioned and the other heavy compression at 5:1 - 8:1 with alot of gain then slowly bring this track up just under the other group. You should hear a nice difference. If you have no clue what I am talking about it is OK, find some one that understands and have them walk you though this.
Ron

due to my mixing envoirnment, ill just multi track a beat to cool edit pro,save every track as a wave then burn every seperate track in wav format on to a cd. take it to a studio and let them do the mixdown. you wont lose any quality and wont waste studio time tracking out. the engineer will bang out a mixdown skillfully. i happen to know this guy and he happens to produce hip hop as well so he knows the deal.

my mixing envoirnment sucks, so im stuck.